Iran Reportedly Crows Over Self-Professed ‘Victory’ and Declares ‘the U.S. Is Hated’ as War Nears Six Months

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File); President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Iran allegedly declared victory as the war with the United States neared the six month mark, as analysts warned an escalation in hostilities between the two nations could be on the horizon.

The apparently stark declaration from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian came as President Donald Trump told American media Friday that Iran is “not ready to make the right deal,” according to Reuters.

The back and forth emerged as the war — which began Feb. 28 with joint airstrikes from the U.S. and Israel and has seen 18 American service members die — was about to reach six months.

Pezeshkian made a strong boast Friday, according to Iranian state media IRNA News, which claimed the leader had declared Friday: “The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated.”

But according to The Wall Street Journal, Pezeshkian and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf were arguing with the nation’s hardliners for a way to end the conflict:

“The war must come to an end at some point,” Pezeshkian said Friday in comments reported by Iranian media. “It is better that we demonstrate our strength and dignity today and tell the world that we have won and that we are ending the war.”

Ghalibaf was less direct but said there will be no security if the country ignores its economic crisis.

“No matter how much military power we have, if our people are struggling and the country lacks financial circulation and economic growth, we will not achieve progress,” the parliamentary speaker said. “As someone who has experienced war, we understand the true value of peace.”

Analysts say the U.S. and Iran are now caught in a difficult cycle — one that means more violence, not less, and that strategies such as the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz won’t force peace.

“The paradox here is clear: The more effective the blockade becomes and the more the Iranian leadership feels the noose tightening around it, the greater the chance that it will resort to escalation and military action, rather than offering concessions,” Danny Citrinowicz, who once headed the Iran division of Israeli defense Intelligence, wrote Saturday on X. 

Hamidreza Azizi, Iran analyst with the Netherlands-based think tank the Clingendael Institute, said a nasty cycle has now emerged in the conflict.

“This is creating a vicious circle. The longer the confrontation continues, the stronger the economic case for diplomacy becomes. But the more Washington increases pressure, the harder it becomes for Iranian leaders to make concessions without appearing to capitulate,” Azizi wrote on X. 

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